ANN ARBOR -- The Big Ten season is upon us, and as far as Michigan's concerned, we have a few more answers to certain questions than we did a week ago.

That said, we still don't know everything. The good news? We should figure out a bit more about the guts of this team after Saturday (5 p.m., ESPN) as a trip to always hostile Penn State awaits.

With that, welcome back to another edition of "Ask Nick."

I've pulled out a handful of questions from those who submitted earlier in the week. To Blueroses, check out the video attached above for the answer to your question.

On we go.

Question: Nick, Derrick Green was largely un-effective last week. Is he truly the 2nd best RB on the team? If so, what does that say about the state of our future running game. I realize Green will get better with age and OL getting better but there are 4 guys worse than him at this point in his development? -- King Blue1

A: Well, this is a tough one for me in someways, King, because we've been limited with what we've seen from some players -- namely freshman De'Veon Smith. Is Derrick Green better than Thomas Rawls? In my opinion, yes.

I feel like I've seen enough of Rawls to make the determination that Green has more talent. He has better vision. Better foot speed and he's stronger. Is he better than Smith? I'm not sure. We haven't seen enough of De'Veon Smith.

I'd like to see more of him, though, as he hasn't had a carry since the season opener. Right now, the staff feels Green is the second best runner on the roster and that's all that matters.

Keep in mind, though, before you're quick to bury Green for a slow start to the season: He's only a freshman. Come on, guys. Anyone who expected this kid to walk in the door and rumble for 1,500 yards was fooling him/herself.

Give it time. The jury's still very much out on all of this.

Question: Will Lewan continue to play TE next to Schofield? -- Winkiemoose

A: Winkie's been all over me all week to discuss this. And even though we wrote about it a few times, I have no problem getting into it a bit more here.

This is, basically, a classic unbalanced line situation. Where you take your best tackle or guard and move him next to your opposite side's best tackle or guard. He's lining up at tight end, but he's not eligible to catch a pass unless he reports to the official as an eligible player -- that's a numerical thing.

In any event, teams do this for obvious reasons: You're loading up one side of the line and trying to power your way behind it.

But, this formation -- if you use it more than just once in a while -- is only reliable if you prove you can run off weakside with it. Otherwise, it's brutally predictable. Outside of a play-action situation, there's not much else this does for you.

We'll see how much Michigan uses it going forward. My guess is they'll use it pretty regularly in heavy packages. Remember, against Connecticut, Michigan basically did this when it brought in Erik Magnuson as a sixth offensive lineman.

In some ways, I think that might be more effective -- at least then you're not completely tipping your hat to the defense.

Question: There's been some talk about Michigan limiting its use of blitz packages against PSU. Is that just talk? How might the Wolverines best contain Hackenberg and the passing game? -- Bennie Oosterbaan's Ghost

A: Well, frankly, I'm not sure Michigan's secondary is good enough to be blitzing anyone on any given play. They're sturdy, but I wouldn't call them extremely above average.

The best blitzing teams are the ones who have at least one really shutdown corner.

And, as we all know, shutdown corners are incredibly difficult to find. But, for the sake of the argument, look at Charles Woodson when he was here. That 1997 defense blitzed all the time. All time time. And did it from several different spots on the field.

Why?

Because, come hell or high water, no one was going to do anything against Woodson down the field. He was literally taking away half or a third of the field on every snap. He didn't need help, so why not vacate that help on a blitz?

Over the last two seasons, Michigan used Jordan Kovacs as a blitzer quite a bit -- because, in my opinion, Greg Mattison had supreme confidence that Kovacs would find his way home or make a difference every time. And if they blitzed elsewhere, Kovacs did such a great job of keeping everyone in line -- the secondary was able to recover.

Question: Nick, Dennis Norfleet, I hold my breath every time he gets the ball on offense, I don't remember him being on the field vs UConn. I like to see his change of pace (and I'd like to see him) get a few more touches a game. -- GlassHalfFullGuy

A: Norfleet's an explosive runner, there's no sense arguing that.

But he's still so raw. Vision-wise, patience-wise, Norfleet has trouble seeing how plays (or holes) develop and really never gives blockers a chance to do much when he touches the ball.

It's like he grabs it, puts on blinders, and runs 100 miles an hour in a straight line. Still needs a bit more polish because, really, there's only so much you can do with him.

He just moved to wide receiver, so his route running/blocking isn't likely to be very crisp just yet.

He can run out of the building, but sometimes, I feel like if he eased off the gas just a hair and took the time to look around -- he might finally break one.

Question: Nick, I was reading on one of the PSU sites (I think it might have been PennLive even) that Penn State's LB corps is pretty thin---heavily injured and lacking experience (which is an unusual situation for PSU, historically). What do you think Borges should do to exploit this? -- Mguy88

A: Well, guy, if that's true -- then the easy answer is to get powerful and get downhill. Pound the edges and pound the ball up the middle.

Of course, in order for that to happen, the combination of Chris Bryant-Graham Glasgow-Kyle Kalis is going to have to answer the bell.

And, if you want to exploit linebackers, using the tight end in the passing game is a good way to do it. Jake Butt, anyone?

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OK, everyone, that's it for this week.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a question. And, remember, if I didn't get to yours I'll try to do better next week.